Load shedding hitting stage 5 this week – here’s the new schedule

Power utility Eskom says load shedding will return to stage 5 after the long weekend.

Stage 3 load shedding will be implemented from 17h00 on Monday (10 April) and will continue until 16h00 on Tuesday.

Thereafter, stage 5 load shedding will be implemented from 16h00 until 05h00 on Wednesday followed by stage 3 load shedding until 16h00.

Eskom will publish a further update as soon as any significant changes occur.

The schedule is as follows:

Monday, 10 April

• Suspended: until 17h00
• Stage 3: 17h00 to 00h00

Tuesday, 11 April

• Stage 3: 00h00 to 16h00
• Stage 5: 16h00 to 00h00

Wednesday, 12 April

• Stage 5: 00h00 to 05h00
• Stage 3: 05h00 to 16h00
• Stage 5: 16h00 to 00h00

Breakdowns are currently at 14,940MW of generating capacity while the generating capacity out of service for planned maintenance has increased to 7,215MW.

Over the past 24 hours a generation unit was returned to service at Lethabo and Matimba power stations.

In the same period, two generating units at Kriel Power Station and a generating unit at Kendal Power Station were taken offline for repairs.

The delays in returning a unit to service at Camden, Lethabo, Kriel, Medupi and Tutuka power stations have contributed to the capacity constraints.

Further, the expected increase in demand after the Easter weekend will put additional strain on the power generation system and may require an increase in a stage of load shedding at short notice, Eskom said.

Schedules 

For people living in the major metros, load shedding schedules are available here:

• City of Johannesburg
• City of Ekurhuleni 
• City of Tshwane 
• City of Cape Town (PDF)
• Nelson Mandela Bay
• eThekwini
• Manguang
• Buffalo City

For access to other load shedding schedules, Eskom has made them available on loadshedding.eskom.co.za.

Smartphone users can also download the app EskomSePush to receive push notifications when load shedding is implemented, as well as the times the area you are in will be off.

Read: South Africa is losing billions of rands – and it’s not because of load shedding